Football

The Southeastern Conference on Tuesday announced the league’s schedule for the 2018 season. Though the opponents were already known, the order and dates are most certainly important as it pertains to schedule difficulty and the potential for the Florida Gators to have a successful campaign next season.

Before we break it down, let’s take a look at the schedule. All games will be played on Saturdays.

Florida’s rotational cross-division opponent in 2018 is Mississippi State. It will be the first time in eight years that the Gators and Bulldogs going head-to-head when the teams meet in Starkville, Mississippi. UF and MSU will not play in Gainesville, Florida, until 2025, 15 years removed from that 2010 game.

The Gators will also be playing an SEC opponent in Week 2 for the second time since 2012. It will be just the fifth time in a span of 24 years that Florida will not open the SEC schedule against Tennessee.

UF will meet Colorado State for the first time in history. The game was scheduled as part of head coach Jim McElwain‘s buyout from CSU and will net the program a large sum to travel to Gainesville. The meeting with Idaho on Nov. 17 is a makeup for the 2014 season opener cancelled due to lightning.

Let things play out. If they have an amazing year, then there’s a good chance that Fitzgerald goes to the NFL and a decent chance that Mullen cashes in at a bigger school. If they don’t continue their run, then why in the world would we be afraid of MS anyway?

There is a chance that Mississippi State stinks next year. Depending on what happens, Dan Mullen may head to a bigger job this winter, and Nick Fitzgerald could enter the NFL Draft. Never easy to win in Starkville, but it’s better than playing @ Bama, who you can almost guarantee will be very good again.

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